Well, you would never know it to look at me, but I'm pretty health conscious. I'm really trying hard to eat right and lose weight. When I'm baking so much, it becomes a hard task not to over eat your treats. I also feel pretty bad posting all these recipes for people to try out without any type of warning that sweets should be eaten in moderation. They might taste yummy but they really are not that great for you.
So, I just wanted to remind people to eat sweets wisely and don't forget that eating healthy is important.
And when you are taste testing - watch how much you are really "testing". =)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Aprons
Category: Misc.
Baking and cooking can get messy. When you're washing dishes, water can splash everywhere including onto you. When you are cooking, food can splash onto you. When you are baking, food can, well, splash onto you. Especially with baking, you could be using ingredients that will stain clothes like food coloring and shortenings.
It's taken me a while to get into the habit, and still even now and then I forget, but you really should be using an apron when cooking or baking. Plus they are just so darn cute!
You can purchase aprons at cooking supply stores and you can usually find a few in the kitchen departments at stores. If you can sew, you can always find super cute apron patterns. Also, you can sometimes find aprons where you would least expect to if you keep an eye out.
My mom just purchased two Halloween aprons from Ross. Aren't they cute!
Plus, my mom, who is awesome, made me this black and white frilly apron.
Baking and cooking can get messy. When you're washing dishes, water can splash everywhere including onto you. When you are cooking, food can splash onto you. When you are baking, food can, well, splash onto you. Especially with baking, you could be using ingredients that will stain clothes like food coloring and shortenings.
It's taken me a while to get into the habit, and still even now and then I forget, but you really should be using an apron when cooking or baking. Plus they are just so darn cute!
You can purchase aprons at cooking supply stores and you can usually find a few in the kitchen departments at stores. If you can sew, you can always find super cute apron patterns. Also, you can sometimes find aprons where you would least expect to if you keep an eye out.
My mom just purchased two Halloween aprons from Ross. Aren't they cute!
Plus, my mom, who is awesome, made me this black and white frilly apron.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Fall Cup Cakes
Category: Cakes > Butter > Cup Cakes > Fall Cup Cakes
I'm really surprised that this is my first time posting about cupcakes - especially given the current popularity of cup cakes. I like cakes because you are given a bigger canvas to work with but you can do some pretty darn fancy things with cupcakes too.
I'm actually becoming more and more of a cup cake fan these days just because I love the portion control in them. I think health is very important and as someone who loves to bake, you have to be really careful about how many of your sweets you eat. I've been thinking about posting about this topic for some time and I just might. Hehe, but today's post is about cup cakes - Fall Cup Cakes.
Anyways, the real reason I made these up was just as I stated a few posts back. I had left over buttercream icing and fondant I wanted to use up. So I baked up a batch of plain yellow cup cakes.
I had almond flavor red, orange, and brown left over from the Fall Cake so it was a no brainer that these would be Fall themed cup cakes. I even threw in a few Halloween ones.
These are plain star tipped orange, red, and brown cup cakes. The one in the upper corner is a Halloween one. I have a close up of it below.
This is a mixed group. Yes, those are suppose to be pumpkin faces but I wasn't too pleased with them. One has a red leaf on it and the other two are multiple colored star tipped cup cakes.
After I ran out of all the almond flavored red, orange and brown, I pulled out the little bit of remaining mint chocolate icing I had. I also used some new mini fall cut outs to cut out some fondant acorns and leaves.
This is the close up of the Halloween spider web cup cake. I think it turned out pretty cute and I could see myself makes a whole batch of just these for Halloween!
Oh and while I'm thinking about it - tip when using mint extract. Use less of it than you would of other flavors. I used 1 tsp. and it made the icing a bit too minty. 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. would have been much better.
I'm really surprised that this is my first time posting about cupcakes - especially given the current popularity of cup cakes. I like cakes because you are given a bigger canvas to work with but you can do some pretty darn fancy things with cupcakes too.
I'm actually becoming more and more of a cup cake fan these days just because I love the portion control in them. I think health is very important and as someone who loves to bake, you have to be really careful about how many of your sweets you eat. I've been thinking about posting about this topic for some time and I just might. Hehe, but today's post is about cup cakes - Fall Cup Cakes.
Anyways, the real reason I made these up was just as I stated a few posts back. I had left over buttercream icing and fondant I wanted to use up. So I baked up a batch of plain yellow cup cakes.
I had almond flavor red, orange, and brown left over from the Fall Cake so it was a no brainer that these would be Fall themed cup cakes. I even threw in a few Halloween ones.
These are plain star tipped orange, red, and brown cup cakes. The one in the upper corner is a Halloween one. I have a close up of it below.
This is a mixed group. Yes, those are suppose to be pumpkin faces but I wasn't too pleased with them. One has a red leaf on it and the other two are multiple colored star tipped cup cakes.
After I ran out of all the almond flavored red, orange and brown, I pulled out the little bit of remaining mint chocolate icing I had. I also used some new mini fall cut outs to cut out some fondant acorns and leaves.
This is the close up of the Halloween spider web cup cake. I think it turned out pretty cute and I could see myself makes a whole batch of just these for Halloween!
Oh and while I'm thinking about it - tip when using mint extract. Use less of it than you would of other flavors. I used 1 tsp. and it made the icing a bit too minty. 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. would have been much better.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Fall Brownie Tree - From a Mix
Category: Cookies > Bar > Brownie > Fall Brownie Tree
Looking through the pantry and organizing things a bit (the pantry tends to get more and more shuffled as time passes and every once in a while I need to go in there and straighten things out) I noticed that we had three boxes of brownie mix. Don't ask me why. I know my brother loves brownies but, really, three boxes?
So I decided to be a nice sister and bake up one of the boxes of brownies for my little bubby. It was my mom who suggested using the Christmas Tree pan to see if we could find alternative uses for it. So, this was my attempt at creating a Fall Brownie Tree.
One thing you might noticed from the picture was how much the brownie rose in the pan. I was really surprised to see that the brownie from a mix rose so much. I'm curious if other brands also rise so much. But, it's just something to be aware of that brownie mixes will rise as much as a cake will.
Looking through the pantry and organizing things a bit (the pantry tends to get more and more shuffled as time passes and every once in a while I need to go in there and straighten things out) I noticed that we had three boxes of brownie mix. Don't ask me why. I know my brother loves brownies but, really, three boxes?
So I decided to be a nice sister and bake up one of the boxes of brownies for my little bubby. It was my mom who suggested using the Christmas Tree pan to see if we could find alternative uses for it. So, this was my attempt at creating a Fall Brownie Tree.
One thing you might noticed from the picture was how much the brownie rose in the pan. I was really surprised to see that the brownie from a mix rose so much. I'm curious if other brands also rise so much. But, it's just something to be aware of that brownie mixes will rise as much as a cake will.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Fall Cake
Category: Cakes > Butter > Decorated > Fall Cake
Last week there was a pot luck lunch at church which my grandmother was going to attend. My mom asked me to make a cake for the event. I decided "Fall" was going to be my theme. I sat around for a little while before brainstorming this idea. I was really pleased with how it came out.
Everyone suggested leaves and stuff to decorate the cake but I really didn't want to bust out the gumpaste and do anything that fancy. I just wanted to make a pretty plain old buttercream icing cake. This cake was Triple Chocolate Fudge with chocolate pudding filling. It was covered with almond buttercream icing (pretty much because I already had some made up that I wanted to use ><)
Last week there was a pot luck lunch at church which my grandmother was going to attend. My mom asked me to make a cake for the event. I decided "Fall" was going to be my theme. I sat around for a little while before brainstorming this idea. I was really pleased with how it came out.
Everyone suggested leaves and stuff to decorate the cake but I really didn't want to bust out the gumpaste and do anything that fancy. I just wanted to make a pretty plain old buttercream icing cake. This cake was Triple Chocolate Fudge with chocolate pudding filling. It was covered with almond buttercream icing (pretty much because I already had some made up that I wanted to use ><)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Cookie Craft
Category: Cookies > Rolled Cookies > Sugar Cookies
If you are very interested in learning how to make fancy sugar cookies, the following book is a pretty good one. It covers all your basics and has a ton of pretty pictures to give you lots of ideas for your own cookies.
Cookie Craft by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer
If you like the book, there is also a special Christmas edition. I don't own this one so I don't have much to comment about on it.
If you are very interested in learning how to make fancy sugar cookies, the following book is a pretty good one. It covers all your basics and has a ton of pretty pictures to give you lots of ideas for your own cookies.
Cookie Craft by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer
If you like the book, there is also a special Christmas edition. I don't own this one so I don't have much to comment about on it.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Scratch Yellow Cake
Category: Cake > Butter > Yellow Cake
Store cake mix versus scratch. To be honest, I haven't yet found a cake recipe from scratch that I think is great. If you know one that is wonderful, please leave a comment with the recipe. I'd love to try it. The following one is decent but nothing superior to a cake mix.
Note that it uses cake flour not regular flour. This makes a big difference. Scratch cakes made with regular flour tend to be denser. If you are looking for a scratch cake that tastes similar to a cake mix, look for a recipe using cake flour.
Cake mixes use dyes which scratch cakes do not. So even though this cake is a yellow cake, it will be much lighter in color than a yellow cake mix. Coloring will resemble more of a white cake. This cake is also a bit more crumbly than a cake mix cake.
Recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until completely combined. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. At end of addition batter should be smooth. Divide between 2 pans.
Bake Yellow Cake Recipe for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack and cool completely before frosting.
For a 9 x 13 pan - Baked at 350 degrees. for 30 to 38 minutes.
Store cake mix versus scratch. To be honest, I haven't yet found a cake recipe from scratch that I think is great. If you know one that is wonderful, please leave a comment with the recipe. I'd love to try it. The following one is decent but nothing superior to a cake mix.
Note that it uses cake flour not regular flour. This makes a big difference. Scratch cakes made with regular flour tend to be denser. If you are looking for a scratch cake that tastes similar to a cake mix, look for a recipe using cake flour.
Cake mixes use dyes which scratch cakes do not. So even though this cake is a yellow cake, it will be much lighter in color than a yellow cake mix. Coloring will resemble more of a white cake. This cake is also a bit more crumbly than a cake mix cake.
Recipe:
- 2 cups Cake Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 cup Butter, softened
- 1 cup Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
- 3/4 cup Milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until completely combined. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. At end of addition batter should be smooth. Divide between 2 pans.
Bake Yellow Cake Recipe for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack and cool completely before frosting.
For a 9 x 13 pan - Baked at 350 degrees. for 30 to 38 minutes.
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